We demonstrate a 0.25% tensile strained Ge p-i-n photodetector on Si platform that effectively covers both C and L bands in telecommunications. The direct band edge of the Ge film has been pushed from 1550 to 1623 nm with 0.25% tensile strain, enabling effective photon detection in the whole L band. The responsivities of the device at 1310, 1550, and 1620 nm are 600, 520, and 100mA∕W under 0 V bias, which can be further improved to 980, 810, and 150mA∕W with antireflection coating based on calculations. Therefore, the device covers the whole wavelength range used in telecommunications. The responsivities at 1310 and 1550 nm are comparable to InGaAs photodetectors currently used in telecommunications. In the spectrum range of 1300–1650 nm, maximum responsivity was already achieved at 0 V bias because carrier transit time is much shorter than carrier recombination life time, leading to ∼100% collection efficiency even at 0 V bias. This is a desirable feature for low voltage operation. The absorption coefficients of 0.25% tensile strained Ge in the L band have been derived to be nearly an order of magnitude higher than bulk Ge. The presented device is compatible with conventional Si processing, which enables monolithic integration with Si circuitry.

We demonstrate a high-performance, tensile-strained Ge p-i-n photodetector on Si platform with an extended detection spectrum of 650–1605 nm and a 3 dB bandwidth of 8.5 GHz measured at λ=1040nm. The full bandwidth of the photodetector is achieved at a low reverse bias of 1 V, compatible with the low driving voltage requirements of Si ultralarge-scale integrated circuits. Due to the direct bandgap shrinkage induced by a 0.20% tensile strain in the Ge layer, the device covers the entire C band and a large part of the L band in telecommunications. The responsivities of the device at 850, 980, 1310, 1550, and 1605 nm are 0.55, 0.68, 0.87, 0.56, and 0.11A∕W, respectively, without antireflection coating. The internal quantum efficiency in the wavelength range of 650–1340 nm is over 90%. The entire device was fabricated using materials and processing that can be implemented in a standard Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process flow. With high speed, a broad detection spectrum and compatibility with Si CMOS technology, this device is attractive for applications in both telecommunications and integrated optical interconnects.

No abstract

Tensile strained epitaxial Ge films were grown on Si(100) substrates by ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition. The tensile strain was induced by the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between Si and Ge during the cooling process from elevated growth temperatures, which induces narrowing of the Ge direct band gap, EgΓ, and pushes the absorption spectrum of Ge toward longer wavelengths. The EgΓ versus strain relation was measured experimentally by photoreflectance and x-ray diffraction, and the result agrees well with calculations by deformation potential theory. With an in-plane tensile strain of 0.21%, the EgΓ of the Ge film grown at 800 °C decreased from 32 meV to 0.768 eV compared with 0.80 for bulk Ge, and corresponded to an absorption edge at 1610 nm. The broadened absorption spectrum of tensile strained Ge makes it promising as a Si-compatible photodector material for L-band (1560–1620 nm) optical communications.

We present a design of monolithically integrated GeSi electroabsorption modulators and photodetectors for electronic-photonic integrated circuits on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The GeSi electroabsorption modulator is based on the Franz-Keldysh effect, and the GeSi composition is chosen for optimal performance around 1550 nm. The designed modulator device is butt-coupled to Si(core)/SiO(2)(cladding) high index contrast waveguides, and has a predicted 3 dB bandwidth of >50 GHz and an extinction ratio of 10 dB. The same device structure can also be used for a waveguide-coupled photodetector with a predicted responsivity of > 1 A/W and a 3 dB bandwidth of > 35 GHz. Use of the same GeSi composition and device structure allows efficient monolithic process integration of the modulators and the photodetectors on an SOI platform.

Ge epitaxial films on Si grown at high temperatures show a shrinkage in the direct band gap EgΓ as a result of the tensile strain accumulated during the cooling process after growth, making it a promising candidate for effective photon detection in L-band telecommunications. However, because of strain relaxation at temperatures >750 °C, only about 0.20% tensile strain can be accumulated at most. This leads to a direct band gap of 0.773 eV, corresponding to 1605 nm and is not enough to cover the whole L band (1561–1620 nm). In this letter, we report the strain enhancement in epitaxial Ge films induced by the formation of C54TiSi2 on the backside of the Si wafers. The backside C54-TiSi2 layer not only forms a good electric contact, but also increases the tensile strain of the Ge film on the front side from 0.20% to 0.24% and a further direct band gap shrinkage from 0.773 to 0.765 eV, corresponding to 1620 nm, which covers the whole L band. Since the silicidation process is compatible with Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, this technique is promising to achieve low cost L-band photon detection completely with tensile strained Ge on Si.

The authors report the first observation of a large, strain-enhanced, electro-optic effect in the weakly absorbing regime for Ge epitaxial films grown directly on Si substrates. The field dependence of absorption in the Ge films was measured from spectral responsivity measurements of Ge-on-Si p-i-n diodes. The experimental data were analyzed using the generalized Franz-Keldysh formalism [H. Shen and F. H. Pollak, Phys. Ref. B 42, 7097 (1990)] and the valence band edge shifts of the light- and heavy-hole energy positions were in response to biaxial stress. With measured Δα∕α∼3 and derived Δn∕F=280pm∕V, the material has significant potential for field-induced phase or electroabsorption modulator devices.

We have grown device quality germanium-rich silicon-germanium films on silicon substrates using a two-step ultrahigh vacuum chemical-vapor deposition growth process. The films have thermally induced tensile strain, resulting in a direct band gap reduction of ∼30meV, in agreement with what we observe for similarly grown pure germanium films. Our data suggest that alloying of silicon increases the band gap reduction with strain at the high germanium end of the composition range. Annealing of the films allows for reduction in the dislocation density to 2×107∕cm2, comparable to what we achieve in pure germanium films and showing that alloying small amounts of silicon does not inhibit dislocation motion. p-i-n diodes fabricated from these films using a silicon compatible process exhibit reverse leakage currents of ∼10mA∕cm2 at 0.5V reverse bias. The responsivity of a Si0.04.8Ge0.952 diode was measured at 0.23A∕W at 1280nm, demonstrating the high quality of these epitaxial films.